Seven practices for success for women in leadership

In this article, Jane S. Goldner, PhD, is the author of Women Driver to Success: You Can Have it YOUR All, and a speaker, leadership, and role integration coach, offers seven practices for leading a successful and high-performing team.

First, Goldner suggests that a leader must have a purpose and a mission, as well as a vision for her team that ties into the corporate mission and vision. Consider why it exists and where is it going? Along with values, these two tenets are the Core that provides unity across a team and gets everyone focused on a common goal.

Goldner suggests that there are two reasons for needing a well-defined Core. First, it is the foundation for all decision making, your “true north” against which everything is assessed. Second, it provides a clear and common focus and direction for everyone on your team, as long as it is clearly communicated.

Second on the list of seven practices is knowing your own strengths and weaknesses in order to surround yourself with people on the team who bring different competencies to the table. All too often, leaders tend to hire in their own image, which magnifies both the hiring leader’s strengths as well as the weaknesses, which leads to less effective decisions. Different, according to the article, is good to avoid group think by getting varying points of view.

With the talent pool today, you will need to hire with diversity in mind. Additionally, as you hire leaders, they should have the competencies that are dictated by the company and team Core. Consider the skills, abilities, and characteristics that a leader needs to have to work the mission, help the team and company move toward its vision, and act on the values.